This invention relates to the technical sector of machines set up for treating and distributing to the public food products, in particular liquid or semi-liquid food products.
More specifically, this invention relates to a connector used for the connection of containers which contain such liquid or semi-liquid food products, in particular gelato or ice cream or similar products, to the above-mentioned treatment and distribution machines, as well as to machines which comprise such containers which are connected to them by means of the connectors in question.
It is known that in the distribution to the public of liquid or semi-liquid food products, such as gelato or ice cream or similar products such as sorbet, use is often made of machines that are set up especially for that purpose, even for operation in self-service mode. In such machines a pump takes the product to be distributed from a suitable container and sends the product to a distribution device, accessible on the outside, from which the product is inserted in a vessel for consumption.
By means of the distribution device, the user selects the amount of product required, for example by acting on a distribution lever or on buttons that prepare the amount of product to be distributed. The distribution device then activates the pump, usually a peristaltic pump, for the time necessary to distribute the amount required.
In some more complex machines, interposed between the pump and the distribution device, there is a product treatment chamber, in which a stirring device is located and operates.
In use, it reproduces what is technically defined as a “batch freezer”, that is to say, a device which simultaneously cools and stirs the basic mix of the product being distributed.
In both cases, the containers from which the pump takes the product are bags, which are made of plastic material, suitable for use with the food product, and are sealed and provided with an aperture in which a product release inlet is inserted. The inlet is closed by a cap that screws onto the outer threading of the inlet.
The bags can contain the finished product, if the machine simply distributes the product, without further treatment. The machine comprises a refrigerated compartment, in which the bag is placed, if necessary contained inside a rigid supporting structure.
The pump, which, as already indicated, is preferably of the peristaltic type, is connected to the bag aperture inlet by means of a tube, along which a non-return valve is positioned, equipped with a suitable connector that couples to the inlet once the cap has been removed.
In the other type of machine, which not only distributes but also processes the product, for example performing batch freezing, in the bag, or in the bags if there are two or more, there is a “basic” material, which will then be sent by the pump into the treatment chamber, before being distributed.
In the case of a gelato distributing machine, the chamber is equipped with a refrigerating thermal apparatus (but it could be a heating apparatus with reference to other products). In use, a coil is wound on the walls of the chamber and controlled by cooling equipment. The stirring device, for example with radial blades, provided inside the chamber, is driven to rotate by an electric motor.
Both in the case of the machine that simply distributes the product, and in the case of the machine that also carries out the treatment of the product before distribution, a critical operating aspect of the machine and correct product preservation is the temperature, which must be constantly monitored.
At present, this task is relegated to the refrigerated compartment, but there is no direct check of the product temperature in the bag and at the moment when it is released from the bag.